How to deal with the anxiety of waiting for exam results

This is an anxious time of year for thousands of students all across the country. Many may well feel as if their futures have already been decided, that the grades they receive in about two weeks will have a defining effect upon the rest of their lives. Some students may well feel as if a sword of Damocles is hanging over them, and there`s nothing they can do to prevent the impending disaster of a disappointing set of grades.

To those filled with such anxieties: take a breath. Of course exam results are important, but no one should feel that, having now completed the exams, their very futures are now beyond their control. The fact that you are feeling anxious is in many ways a good sign, as it means you care deeply about your future prospects. Being anxious will have made you study harder, and most likely given you an edge over peers who were more indifferent about the upcoming exams.

You should also know that it`s perfectly natural to feel uneasy about impending exam results. Very often people feel anxious, but they either don`t know why, or they believe they shouldn`t feel the way they do. Being anxious over which A-Level or GCSE grade you will attain is a valid and reasonable apprehension. Allow yourself to be concerned, but don`t let your fears run away with you. Even if you wrote all the answers to your Spanish exam in French, and completed your math`s exam in disappearing ink, it won`t be the end of the world!

If your are having trouble managing your anxieties you could undertake some mindfulness routines. Mindfulness is a methodology of relaxing and paying attention to the present moment. Being attentive to the sights and sounds all around you, but in a non judgemental way - just allowing yourself to exist in the `now.` Mindfulness is practiced by millions of people, with many adopting it into their daily routines in the same way they brush their teeth or shower. It`s a great way of dealing with stress, while coming to appreciate the full splendour of the ever-present moment. You can easily find a whole range of mindfulness techniques online should you wish to learn more.

GCSE Results are due to be released on Thursday 25th August, with AS and A-Levels results being announced a week earlier, on Thursday 18th August. T-Level results, the new technical-based qualification equivalent to A- levels, are also on published on August 18th.

This is always difficult time for students across the United Kingdom. The labours of two years are about to be condensed into a a final grade. All those days, weeks and months of study, soon to be represented by an innocuous number. Of course the letter grading system has been superseded by numbers, with 9 being the highest, equivalent to an A*

The results are sent from the exam boards to schools, who will inform pupils how they can receive their grades. Some schools will require pupils to come in and collect their results in person, but most will send out the results by email. One advantage receiving the results in person is that advice can be given should the pupil not achieve the grades they were hoping for.

Students actually sat exams a little earlier this year. Usually they continue into July, but most pupils completed all their GCSE`s and A-Levels by June 28th. Of course the last two years have been incredibly disruptive for students, and everyone is welcoming how relatively normal this year has been, at least as regarding the education sector. The Department of Education recently put out a statement, saying:

`As we return to exams, we want to get back to the pre-pandemic standard, but in the interests of fairness, Ofqual (who take the decisions on grading) won`t do so in one jump.`

`Instead, 2022 will be a transition year to reflect that we are in a pandemic recovery period and students` education has been disrupted. In 2022 the aim, therefore, will be to move grading to a point close to midway between 2021 and pre-pandemic profiles.`